Salad bowl flies as woman hit in groin with fence paling
A WOMAN has tearfully told an Ipswich jury how she was hit in the groin with a fence paling as she tried to fend off her attackers with a bowl of salad.
The woman was living next door to Cory Malcolm Szolna, 20, at Leichhardt when on November 17, 2010, Szolna allegedly confronted her and her family in their front yard while they cooked a barbecue for their heavily-pregnant daughter.
The female victim, her 42-year-old partner and their daughter's boyfriend were assaulted by up to 12 men including the accused, the court heard.
The men tore palings off the fence and threw them at the victim and her family, hitting her and causing bruises, the jury heard.
As the men assaulted her partner, the woman said, she jumped on Szolna and grabbed him around the neck to stop him the attack.
"I grabbed him around the neck, dropped my body weight on him and we were sliding around in salad," the woman told the jury.
"I thought he (my partner) was dead and was holding on to Corey's legs trying to pull him away.
"The group were standing near the corner (of the street) and started to disperse when they heard I said to call the ambos."
Szolna has pleaded not guilty to three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, and one count of assault occasioning bodily harm while armed.
Crown prosecutor John Copley told the jury Szolna and the victims had at first been friends, but there had been building animosity following an attack on the father at an Ipswich train station in July that year.
The jury was told Szolna tried to fight the victim, who refused, so he started "ferociously" punching him repeatedly to the head and face.
Mr Copley screened CCTV footage to the jury where the victim can be seen to be punched to the ground, followed by a man standing over him continuing to inflict blows.
In giving evidence to the jury, the victim said as he walked onto the platform he was struck in the face and fell back inside the carriage.
The jury was told Szolna continued to bash the victim, who lost three teeth and suffered numerous cuts and bruising from the fight.
The trial, before Judge Sarah Bradley, continues.
